I should have stayed home!

I love that all of the Chicago museums have free days. I always want to go but with 4 kids, I can't afford to go unless it is free. Monday was a free day at the Field Museum. Jacob has been obsessed with dinosaurs ever since he was very small and has always asked to go to the dinosaur museum. So on Monday we decided to go. This was the first in a line of bad ideas!!
I didn't decide until Monday morning to go, so I was quite unprepared for the adventure. I had no lunch meat in the house and I had to scramble to come up with lunches at the last minute. Peanut butter and jelly for everyone. YUCK!! Oh well, I pack up and off we go. I realize pulling out of the driveway that I have no gas. First stop gas station. While pumping my gas, I look down and realize that I am wearing one shoe and one slipper. I have no idea how that happened! Dang it, I have to go back home and change my one slipper into a more socially acceptable shoe. Off we go again. We hit the expressway and it is smooth sailing all the way to the museum. After 20 minutes of looking for the parking, we are parked and trying to get in the museum. We load up the mammoth stroller and head to the elevators. Of course not with out going back to the car 3 times for things I forgot. Oh well all is well! We take the elevator up and take the long walk to the doors of the museum. We are on the south side of the museum where I am greeted by A GIANT FLIGHT OF STAIRS!!! No ramp in sight! Time to get creative. I take Camden out of the stroller and give him to Jacob, while Tyler and I carry the stroller up the stairs. Not so fun and not a single person offered to help us! That's fine I can handle this. I can take 4 kids to the museum alone and I don't need any one's help. Yea. Once inside we had a fine time. They have this GREAT natural disasters display right now. We have been studying volcanoes lately so this was the highlight of the day. The rest of the museum, ehh, waste of my time. But oh well, I see things a bit different than the museum does so we plowed through the rest rather quickly. When we exited the museum, we were on the North side of the museum. I looked up and saw the building that my mom works in. I said to the kids, "Look, there is grandma's work. It is not that far, lets go visit her." *disclaimer* Large buildings appear closer than they are!
We head off down Columbus Dr. toward Michigan Ave. to visit grandma at the Prudential building. Just after passing Millennium Park, I realize that we are below the street we want to be on. I am greeted again by a GIANT FLIGHT OF STAIRS. This time, instead of killing ourselves to get up them, I decide to travel a bit underground to work my way up. My kids are exhausted, we had already been walking for about 30 minutes, and I keep saying, " hurry up guys." My legs are very long, one of my steps is at least 3 of theirs. Tyler has now gotten multiple cramps all over his body from too much walking when he says to me, "Where is the worst place to get a cramp?" Before I can respond, Jacob says," Chicago!" Cracking up we continue on. As we walk underground, I realize where we are. Sam stepped on a sleeping man and I panic. We are on lower Wacker. Me alone with my kids. CRAP!! My hurry up's get frantic and I am now encouraging my kids to run, not walk. After a lot of questions about why people are sleeping on the ground, we emerge in daylight. AAH!!! Freedom! 2 blocks west and then 3 more south and we arrive at the Prudential building. About an hour of walking for Giordano's pizza. To add insult to injury, my mom ordered thin crust! Who eats thin crust at Giordano's? Apparently my mom. Love you mom, but deep dish is the way to go.
I made the decision to take the train on the way back. Quick, cheap ride from Randolph to 12th street and we are close to the museum. Unfortunately when we arrive at the train station, it is 30 minutes till the next train. We wait. At least we are stationary. Camden is out of his mind tired and screams the whole time. When it is time to board the train, I am greeted again by A GIANT FLIGHT OF STAIRS!!! Again out comes Camden, give him to Jacob, and Tyler and I carry down the stroller. Again NO ONE offers to help. Now I need it. I am tired, frustrated, and quickly loosing my sense of humor. Any way we are on the train. YES!! Five minutes later we are off at 12th St. We are greeted yet again by a GIANT FLIGHT OF STAIRS!! Same scenario, like groundhog day, Cam out, Jacob hold, Tyler and I carry, no one offers to help, blah blah blah. Street level arrives and we head back to the museum. 15 minutes later we are back at the original flight of stairs and off to the parking garage. Another 15 minutes and I have found the car and we are in. I then realize that I had to pay for my parking at the terminal back by the elevators. There is no attendant on duty. Nice. Everyone back out of the car. I cried all the way to the stupid terminal thingy, pay for parking, and head back to the car. I am sure the onlookers wondered why I was crying as I paid for my parking. Or maybe they understood since we were all paying WAY TOO MUCH for a place to put our cars. We are now on the road. A wonderful, uneventful ride home. It was a beautiful thing. I really needed uneventful at that point.
So the moral of this story...Its not that easy to take 4 kids alone, anywhere, it looks close, but its not, stairs suck, chivalry is DEAD, pizza should be deep dish, nothing is quick, remember where you park, read the signs in the parking garage, and next time you start a day with 2 different shoes....STAY HOME!

Welcome to my circus!

Did you ever have one of those days where you think only of your bed all day? Where all you want to do is climb back in, pull up the covers, and SLEEP? This was my day yesterday. It wasn't a bad day, but with a terrible sinus infection and a never-ending list of things to do, all I wanted to do was go to bed. When that moment finally arrived, I was thrilled! With all of the kids sound asleep, I was one happy camper! After watching the weather, I turned off the tv, curled up in a ball, freezing my butt off, and went to my happy place. Fast forward 20 minutes.....I hear crying. It is Sam. He often has night terrors so I wasn't too surprised to hear him. I perfected the art of "pretending not to hear" and so Jay got up and handled it. Happy and peaceful once again. I relaxed and got cozy again. Aah happy place. Fast forward 5 minutes.... I hear crying. This time it is Camden. After a quite a few minutes of crying, I realized that now Jay has perfected the art of "pretending not to hear" and in the spirit of fairness, I got up. Searched all over the house for a binky, figuring that was the problem. Finally after moving couches, I found one. Stealth like, I move in the baby's room, hoping he will believe a binky just appeared in his mouth. I do not want to be seen. I am crawling on the floor, reaching through the bars of the crib, frantically feeling around for his mouth to put in the binky. I am using a bit of childlike mentality here, assuming if I can't see him, he can't see me. This is not a true statement. I am big, crib is small, and baby is smarter than my tired brain was giving him credit for. As I reach through to find his mouth, he reaches through and finds my hair. Ugh, plan foiled! I now look up to find him standing over my head with a binky already in his mouth and realize I am trying with all my might to shove the binky in between his toes. Our eyes meet. I stand up and lay him back down, position his blanky and cover him. In my mind all I can see is my bed. I head back out of the room, this time on my feet since Jacob's legos on the floor drew blood from my knees on the way in. I close the door and the screaming returns. Now we are at almost 15 months here and Camden has NEVER woke up like this before. I decide to leave him for a bit and see if he will put himself back to sleep. After 10 minutes of crying and a bit of fear that Jacob sleeping next to him might be next to wake up, I head back in. This time I picked him up. He quieted immediately and I held him next to his bed for a few minutes. When I felt that his breathing had slowed to a sleeping rhythm, I laid him back down. Screaming again. Again I leave the room and hope that he will give it up. I got back in bed because I was freezing and vowed to out last him. After about 10 more minutes, I realize that due to sinus infection, I have no sense of smell. What if he has a dirty pants? I would feel terrible if I didn't check so back in I go. I take him down to the couch to change him and nothing! Hardly even wet. Back to bed he goes. Screaming again. I wait yet another 10 minutes before going back in and this time I broke our cardinal rule number 1 for sleep success. I brought him in our bed. I know bad move! I was so cold. Please understand it was like 40 degrees last night and someone refused to turn on the heat. My head was pounding and I needed sleep so bad. It is now after midnight and I have gotten a grand total of 20 minutes sleep so far. I turn into a pumpkin around 9! Back to baby. He was happy and comfy in our bed and he went to sleep. Around 2:30 I woke back up to use the bathroom and decide it is safe to move him back to his bed. Not true. As soon as I laid him down, screaming again. Frustrated beyond belief, I moved him back into our bed. I struggle to get comfortable with anyone in our bed, but at least I can be under the covers. We have a GIANT king size bed that sits very high off the ground. At 4:30 I hear crying again. I can't remember at this point if Cam is in my room or his so I sit up and try to get orientated. I realize that the crying is coming for my left. My eyes won't open. Due to said sinus infection, they are stuck shut. Nice, huh? Jay sits up and looks and my baby is on the floor next to my bed. Yeah you read that right. He fell off. Don't know how that happened. He fell a good 2.5-3 feet off my bed onto our hard wood floors. I panicked! Now imagine the sight. Jay is holding my hysterical baby and I still can't open my eye. I had gotten one open but the other will definitely take a warm rag or something to get it open. So I pull out my best pirate and try to handle the situation with only one eye. Quite funny in hindsight! I am pretty sure that Camden is OK. Jay calmed him down and guess what, he moved him into his bed and he went right to sleep. I suppose our bed doesn't look so good after it dumped him out! By the time we finished all of this, Jay climbed back into bed only to have his alarm go off 3 minutes later! I got up and cleaned up my eyes and went back in to check on Cams. Soundly sleeping he is! I fell back asleep for probably about a half an hour when Jacob woke up ( he is quite an early bird). I give up. Sleep will not be mine tonight! Oh well, sleep is for sissy's!

Crazy town

Well the bus to Crazy Town is scheduled to pass my house and we've decided to hop on. Yes I know I am crazy. I've actually planned this trip to The Town. Two months ago I looked forward to this trip. As departure time approaches, I am starting to get VERY nervous. Where am I going you ask?? I am going to home school. Why, you ask? I have no idea right now. I am too nervous to remember why. We home schooled back when I only had a preschooler and a Kindergartner. Even that overwhelmed me a bit. Now after 2 years in school, they are coming back home. I have a 3rd grader, 2nd grader, kindergartner, and a toddler. So I imagine this will be a bit different then last time.
I have a file cabinet full of curriculum that I have no idea what to do with and 3 semi-angelic faces staring at me, ready to learn. Really it is not the teaching part that freaks me out, it is more the organization and discipline that homeschooling requires that brings me to nausea. There is no rhyme or reason to my day. There never has been. But now there must be both rhyme and reason. Kind of like, " hey watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!" And I am no magician. So pray for me. Encourage me. And all of you veteran home schoolers out there, HELP ME!!!!!
Lord love a duck!!!

I love a great deal!!!

Ok So I must admit. I am not the greatest at using coupons. I find them to be a bit difficult and confusing. I have found a resource to simplify this for me. My extremely savvy friend has decided to start a blog posting all of the great deals she gets and tell us, less savvy people, how to do it. I was skeptical at first whether it would be as easy as she said so I tried it. I went to walgreens yesterday to get diapers. The walgreens brand were buy one, get on 50% off. That is 7.99 for the first pack and 3.99 for the second. Not a bad price in my book. But it can be better. Using the instructions on Clair's blog I went to the front of the store and grabbed a coupon book. In it I found a coupon for $5.00 off 2 packs of walgreens brand diapers. I then went to the pharmacy and asked for a book of the prescription coupons. In there I found a coupon for $2.00 off each pack of walgreens diapers. That is a grand total of $9.00 off!!! The diapers were only $12.00 before the discounts so I got 2 jumbo packs of diapers for $3.00!!! $1.50 EACH!!! I was so excited when I left walgreens I called every one I know who has one in diapers!! She is posting a few times a day because she has so many deals to tell us about. So check out Clairs blog and let me know what deals you try!!!

OH YES

Well I am now on week 3 of my e-mealz plan and it is still A-MAZING!!! All of the food has been so good to eat and so easy to make. One of the recipes was a chili, not such a big hit with the boys, but everything else they have loved! If you haven't checked it out yet click on the link in the post below. I have even stayed 30-50 dollars under their estimated total! By shopping at aldi, keeping an eye on sales at other stores, and following the helpful coupon hints on the emealz website I am saving so much money. What I am saving money? Yes time for a pedicure!!!!

This is it!!!

I have found a website that will revolutionize my life!! Yes this is it!! It is called e-mealz and it is amazing!! Dinner is one of my biggest obstacles each day. I never know what to make, and I am so sick of saying, "do you want spaghetti, tacos, or sloppy joes?" Then repeat that sentence the next day. This website gives you a weekly FAMILY FRIENDLY meal plan along with a corresponding grocery list. The bonus to this is that you can choose your grocery store and they will coordinate your meals with what is on sale!! Your meal plan is complete with recipes and your grocery list is broken down by AISLE and lets you know what items are for which meal. So if you want to skip meal 2, you can skip all of the ingredients with a 2 next to them. PERFECTLY BRAINLESS!!!! They also give you options of low-fat, low-carb, or points. I don't even know what points is:)

I have already printed 2 weeks worth, yes they are printable so you can save them to reuse, and each of the 14 meals are things my family will eat. The highest cost of the 2 is $77. That is only if I have to buy all of the things, some of them I have on hand, and if I only go to the store I chose. I could just as easily take that list to aldi and get what I can there and probably save quite a bit. I already spend more then $100 just on dinner stuff for us each week. This is also the meal plan for a family of 6 so smaller families would definitely cost less. I am so excited about this. If you want to check it out click here E-MEALZ Easy Meals for Busy and Frugal Families

I said I would NEVER do it!

I have one very important rule, one that I broke last week. "Thou shalt never bring 4 boys into anyone's place of business by myself." It is the 11th commandment, and I have sinned against it! I took all of my boys into the store and let me just tell you the wages of sin really is DEATH!!

I was heading to a weekend long conference at my church, and on the way to taking the kids to my parents, I had to run into CVS. It is not a big store, very few toys and such, so I justified my rule breaking. They actually did pretty well at first. We charged through the store, quickly, grabbing exactly what we needed. Diapers for the baby. I hightail it up to the counter and a very nice 12 year old boy begins to check me out. Halfway through the transaction, the computer freezes!! Ok I decide to remain calm. He looks dumbfounded, not exactly sure how to handle this problem. I suggest calling a manager or trying another register. His first life-saving maneuver was acting promptly on both of my suggestions. Manager arrives just as he is attempting to re ring me, there is no drawer in the register. The manager calls to the "back"(I can't imagine where that could be the whole store is about 500sq ft!) to get a drawer for the new register. I say don't even worry about it I will use a credit card then we have no need for cash. Apparently the register won't work without the drawer so it doesn't matter how I pay. Right next to the register is one of those "can't find the price, find it here" things. Here starts the fun stuff for my boys. While I wait, Camden is crying because his is sitting in the reason why we needed diapers so desperately and my bigger boys are roaming the store to find the coolest stuff to scan! After a 15 minute wait, they finally have the register situation worked out, the counter is full of random items they now need to reshelf. By the way, coolest item scanned that day, Dr. Scholls corn removers. Don't ask me why, the tribe has spoken.
After paying for my diapers, I head to the car. As we approach the automatic doors, Sam slams right into them. They would not open! Many people had come and gone while I waited, but when we tried to leave they wouldn't work!! We were trapped!! In what might be my own personal hell! I am starting to sweat and all of the walls are closing in on me. That store never seemed so small! After another 10 MINUTES, they get the doors working and I burst out to the free world. I was only moments from dropping to my knees, tears flowing down my face and kissing the sidewalk. I have never felt such sweet freedom! I had an overwhelming need all of the sudden for a GRANDE white chocolate mocha. Which I got, but this time I used the drive-thru!! PRAISE GOD FOR DRIVE-THRU'S!!!!!!